First: Use the frontend-design skill for design principles and anti-patterns.
Perform a meticulous final pass to catch all the small details that separate good work from great work. The difference between shipped and polished.
Pre-Polish Assessment
Understand the current state and goals:
-
Review completeness:
- Is it functionally complete?
- Are there known issues to preserve (mark with TODOs)?
- What's the quality bar? (MVP vs flagship feature?)
- When does it ship? (How much time for polish?)
-
Identify polish areas:
- Visual inconsistencies
- Spacing and alignment issues
- Interaction state gaps
- Copy inconsistencies
- Edge cases and error states
- Loading and transition smoothness
CRITICAL: Polish is the last step, not the first. Don't polish work that's not functionally complete.
Polish Systematically
Work through these dimensions methodically:
Visual Alignment & Spacing
- Pixel-perfect alignment: Everything lines up to grid
- Consistent spacing: All gaps use spacing scale (no random 13px gaps)
- Optical alignment: Adjust for visual weight (icons may need offset for optical centering)
- Responsive consistency: Spacing and alignment work at all breakpoints
- Grid adherence: Elements snap to baseline grid
Check:
- Enable grid overlay and verify alignment
- Check spacing with browser inspector
- Test at multiple viewport sizes
- Look for elements that "feel" off
Typography Refinement
- Hierarchy consistency: Same elements use same sizes/weights throughout
- Line length: 45-75 characters for body text
- Line height: Appropriate for font size and context
- Widows & orphans: No single words on last line
- Hyphenation: Appropriate for language and column width
- Kerning: Adjust letter spacing where needed (especially headlines)
- Font loading: No FOUT/FOIT flashes
Color & Contrast
- Contrast ratios: All text meets WCAG standards
- Consistent token usage: No hard-coded colors, all use design tokens
- Theme consistency: Works in all theme variants
- Color meaning: Same colors mean same things throughout
- Accessible focus: Focus indicators visible with sufficient contrast
- Tinted neutrals: No pure gray or pure black—add subtle color tint (0.01 chroma)
- Gray on color: Never put gray text on colored backgrounds—use a shade of that color or transparency
Interaction States
Every interactive element needs all states:
- Default: Resting state
- Hover: Subtle feedback (color, scale, shadow)
- Focus: Keyboard focus indicator (never remove without replacement)
- Active: Click/tap feedback
- Disabled: Clearly non-interactive
- Loading: Async action feedback
- Error: Validation or error state
- Success: Successful completion
Missing states create confusion and broken experiences.
Micro-interactions & Transitions
- Smooth transitions: All state changes animated appropriately (150-300ms)
- Consistent easing: Use ease-out-quart/quint/expo for natural deceleration. Never bounce or elastic—they feel dated.
- No jank: 60fps animations, only animate transform and opacity
- Appropriate motion: Motion serves purpose, not decoration
- Reduced motion: Respects
prefers-reduced-motion
Content & Copy
- Consistent terminology: Same things called same names throughout
- Consistent capitalization: Title Case vs Sentence case applied consistently
- Grammar & spelling: No typos
- Appropriate length: Not too wordy, not too terse
- Punctuation consistency: Periods on sentences, not on labels (unless all labels have them)
Icons & Images
- Consistent style: All icons from same family or matching style
- Appropriate sizing: Icons sized consistently for context
- Proper alignment: Icons align with adjacent text optically
- Alt text: All images have descriptive alt text
- Loading states: Images don't cause layout shift, proper aspect ratios
- Retina support: 2x assets for high-DPI screens
Forms & Inputs
- Label consistency: All inputs properly labeled
- Required indicators: Clear and consistent
- Error messages: Helpful and consistent
- Tab order: Logical keyboard navigation
- Auto-focus: Appropriate (don't overuse)
- Validation timing: Consistent (on blur vs on submit)
Edge Cases & Error States
- Loading states: All async actions have loading feedback
- Empty states: Helpful empty states, not just blank space
- Error states: Clear error messages with recovery paths
- Success states: Confirmation of successful actions
- Long content: Handles very long names, descriptions, etc.
- No content: Handles missing data gracefully
- Offline: Appropriate offline handling (if applicable)
Responsiveness
- All breakpoints: Test mobile, tablet, desktop
- Touch targets: 44x44px minimum on touch devices
- Readable text: No text smaller than 14px on mobile
- No horizontal scroll: Content fits viewport
- Appropriate reflow: Content adapts logically
Performance
- Fast initial load: Optimize critical path
- No layout shift: Elements don't jump after load (CLS)
- Smooth interactions: No lag or jank
- Optimized images: Appropriate formats and sizes
- Lazy loading: Off-screen content loads lazily
Code Quality
- Remove console logs: No debug logging in production
- Remove commented code: Clean up dead code
- Remove unused imports: Clean up unused dependencies
- Consistent naming: Variables and functions follow conventions
- Type safety: No TypeScript
any or ignored errors
- Accessibility: Proper ARIA labels and semantic HTML
Polish Checklist
Go through systematically:
IMPORTANT: Polish is about details. Zoom in. Squint at it. Use it yourself. The little things add up.
NEVER:
- Polish before it's functionally complete
- Spend hours on polish if it ships in 30 minutes (triage)
- Introduce bugs while polishing (test thoroughly)
- Ignore systematic issues (if spacing is off everywhere, fix the system)
- Perfect one thing while leaving others rough (consistent quality level)
Final Verification
Before marking as done:
- Use it yourself: Actually interact with the feature
- Test on real devices: Not just browser DevTools
- Ask someone else to review: Fresh eyes catch things
- Compare to design: Match intended design
- Check all states: Don't just test happy path
Remember: You have impeccable attention to detail and exquisite taste. Polish until it feels effortless, looks intentional, and works flawlessly. Sweat the details - they matter.